Fear of Flying
TSA Fails To Secure Airlines
Last Updated: Wed, 11/25/2009 - 4:12pm
Despite getting hundreds of millions of tax dollars to fulfill its mission, the
federal agency created after 9/11 to secure the nation’s transportation system
continues to leave airplanes extremely vulnerable to another terrorist attack.
In the latest of numerous reports documenting the perpetual blunders of the
Transportation Security
Administration (TSA), the Department
of Homeland Security Inspector General reveals that the agency is failing to
ensure the security of boxed cargo on passenger planes. This leaves airplanes at
risk for a terrorist attack, according to the inspector general.
The report, made public this week by a
national newspaper, lists repeated problems with the TSA’s program to
prevent terrorists from sneaking bombs into any of the tens of thousands of
cargo packages transported daily in the bellies of passenger planes.
Investigators easily slipped into “secure” warehouses where cargo is stored
prior to being loaded on airplanes without ever being challenged by security
personnel.
Additionally, the probe found that workers who handle the cargo had not received
the required background checks or training, further adding to the security
crisis. Simply put, air cargo is extremely vulnerable and the TSA has not been
effective in making airlines and freight companies comply with security rules,
according to investigators.
This is hardly earth-shattering news though it’s quite disturbing. A few years
ago a separate Homeland Security Inspector General report revealed similar
problems in the TSA’s
dismal air cargo
security system and numerous other investigations have exposed dozens of
security failures in other crucial areas. Serious lapses have occurred
nationwide and, in 2007, TSA workers at three major airports
missed hundreds of fake bombs during a covert exercise conducted to see if
suspicious items could be smuggled into secure areas.
The problems continue even though Congress has poured hundreds of millions of
dollars into the 43,000-member agency created after the 2001 terrorist attacks
mainly to protect airlines. The TSA tells a much different story however, of an
effective agency that guarantees airline passenger safety with a “robust
layered security regime.” Indeed laughable.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". (and our incompetent government.)